Problem Sharing Files & Printer Over network

  • Thread starter Thread starter Colin
  • Start date Start date
C

Colin

Hi,

I am trying to network two windows xp home edition
computers, both have network cards and are linked with a
patch cable. One computer has ADSL broadband and after
setting up a new network that connection is shared but
for some reason i cannot share files or printers.
I look in the 'My network Places'folder and there is no
networks shown and when i click on view workgroup
computers it says ' home network is not available or you
may not have permission to access it'
but im on an admin account.
Can anyone please help me sort this out? The internet
sharing is working fine but printing and file sharing
won't work.

Thanks

COlin
 
-----Original Message-----
Hi,

I am trying to network two windows xp home edition
computers, both have network cards and are linked with a
patch cable. One computer has ADSL broadband and after
setting up a new network that connection is shared but
for some reason i cannot share files or printers.
I look in the 'My network Places'folder and there is no
networks shown and when i click on view workgroup
computers it says ' home network is not available or you
may not have permission to access it'
but im on an admin account.
Can anyone please help me sort this out? The internet
sharing is working fine but printing and file sharing
won't work.

Thanks

COlin
.
Click to expand...
By patch cable do you mean cross over cable? If not and
you are connecting directly from one computer to the
other than you need a cross over cable or a hub etc.
 
Have you checked the XP firewall settings?

I had a similiar problem today. When I ran the network
wizard it turned on xp's internet firewall and prevented
access of files and printers.

just a thought!

Marc
 
Colin,
Read the thread "Network Protocol Combinations" to see
if what I was encountering matches with your situation... it
sounds very similar.

Anyway, be sure that ONLY the Internet Connection
has its firewall enabled and NONE OTHER. Make sure that
NetBT is enabled on both machines, (NetBIOS over
TCP/IP), as F&P won't work without it. Post back if you
don't know how to find that.

There is light at the end of the tunnel!

Bill
 
Hi,

I can't seem to find the thread you have mentioned, could
u possibly give the page number it is on.
I am not sure how to find out if the firewall is only on
the internet connection or how to check if netbt is setup.
Any help is very much appreciated.

Thanks
Colin
 
Colin,
I've pasted Steve Winograd's reply to my original
post below. Be sure to read the material presented
at the sites he suggests, as they give a good
understanding of the elements and offer some
basis for follow-on intuitive thinking.

To enable NetBT:
1. Open Network Connections ("My NP" properties)
2. Right-click your LAN and choose properties
3. Double-click "Internet Protocol(TCP/IP)
4. Click Advanced
5. Click WINS
6. Click the Enable NetBIOS Over TCP.IP button.

To check on the firewall on the host & client:
1. Open Network Connections ("My NP" properties)
2. Right-click the Internet connection & choose properties
3. Select "Internet Protocol(TCP/IP) and click the properties
4. Select the Advanced tab
5. ON the Host, make sure that "Protect My computer....."
is checked
6. ON the Client: Do the same steps and make sure that
"Protect My computer....." IS NOT checked

I'll monitor this thread until you're done with this issue.
Bill

My post and Winograd's reply:
========================================
"Bill said:
Trying to find the correct combination of
network protocols to have installed and
enabled.

I have Two XP-HomeEdition machines that
share a dial-up connection to the Internet.
With that, the wizard installs TCP/IP and
sets the IP of the host and automatic
detection on the client. DHCP is enabled
in XP and cannot be disabled. The ICS
is working perfectly.

I was not able to get file & printer sharing
to work without installing "IPX/SPX/NetBIOS
Compatible Protocols".

On the client, access to disk resources on the
network (host) are instantaneous and the
printer works satisfactorily.

The PROBLEM IS: On the host, access to
network resources is inordinately slow. It
takes 45 seconds to a full minute to find
the workgroup common to the client. Then,
an equal amount of time to display the
resources on the network (client & host).

I have the idea that there's contention or
confusion amongst the protocols as to who
is suppose to service the requests, if that
makes any sense. The only difference I see
between the two machines is the presense
of "Microsoft TCP/IP version 6" appears
when I look at connection properties on
the client, but does not appear on the host.
I suspect that "adding a network printer"
on the client might account for that.

On the host, the Binding for the "local area
connection" has IPX/SPX/NetBIOS first
and Internet Protocol(TCP/IP) second.
The client order is the same except it has
Microsoft TCP/IP version 6 between them,
i.e., it's second in the list.

Anyway, is there a fixed or recommended
configuration of protocols for a set up such
as mine? The performance from the host is
the only problem remaining on the home
network.

Thanks,
Bill
Click to expand...

The only protocol you need on either computer is TCP/IP (the default
version, which is version 4). Using more than one protocol can cause
network problems.

Un-install IPX/SPX/NetBIOS from both computers.

TCP/IP version 6 was probably installed by the "Advanced Networking
Pack for Windows XP" from Windows Update. This Microsoft Knowledge
Base article has details, including how to un-install it.

Overview of the Advanced Networking Pack for Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;817778

To get everything working using only TCP/IP version 4:

1. Permanently disable XP's built-in Internet Connection Firewall on
local area network connections -- it's for use only on a direct modem
connection to the Internet. Disable and un-install all other
firewalls while troubleshooting. Details here:

Windows XP Internet Connection Firewall
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp/ic_firewall.htm

2. Make sure that NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled on all computers.
Details here:

Enable NetBIOS Over TCP/IP (NetBT)
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/troubleshoot/netbt.htm
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
========================================
 
Colin,
(PS) to my last post: If you have other firewall software on
your machines, you need to disable them. E.g., "Norton
Internet Security" or "Norton Personal Firewall".
Bill
 
Hi,

Finally it all seems to be working, the internet
connection is working on the client and i can share files
between the two computers.
Thanks very much for your help, i couldn't have set this
up without it.

Regards
Colin

PS. Any ideas as to why my internet connection has
increased in speed after networking. It used to say
connected at 512kbps now it says connected at 576kbps.
Just thouhgt it was rather strange.

Thanks Again
Colin
 
Happy to give back some of what I've learned from
the NG experts.
Bill
(PS) Tom Tannehill posted this earlier today. It might
be of interest to you if you encounter long delays
trying to access files from the host to a client:
========================================
We have an NT 4.0 domain consisting of 5 servers with a
mix of 98se and XP pro clients. The problem we
encountered when adding the XP clients (once we solved the
domain login issues) is that accessing shared resources
from the XP client machine proved problomatic. The
problem revealed itself by causing (at least in our case)
a 90 second delay before the resource became available.
Once this time period expired, the resource was accessable
completely. The caviat is that if the user does not
continue to access these resources frequently, the system
times out and the whole process of connecting and waiting
90 seconds repeats itself. Microsoft confirmed our
problem with our $245 support call. The fix to all of
this misery....... Pay MS for a support call or do this:
right-click on "My Computer", select MANAGE, select
SERVICES and APPLICATIONS, select SERVICES and find "WEB
CLIENT". Double-click WEB CLIENT and set the properties
to MANUAL, then STOP the service. Reboot your system and
presto-chango XP can now access NT4 resources correctly
without delay. Hope this helps as many of you out there I
know have experienced this issue. NOTE: this fix is still
absense from the MS knowlege base....go figure.
========================================
 
Thanks so much for posting this. Saved me 250.00 phone
call. I spent 45 minutes with Dell to no avail on this.
They suggested I pay 250.00 for a call to fix it.
 
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